The Letting Process

Lettings (Critical Dates Concept/Critical Dates Schedule)

The Iowa DOT's Office of Contracts normally has a highway letting each month. These lettings give contractors the opportunity to bid on approximately 800 projects each year. These include interstate, primary and secondary road work and maintenance projects. The Iowa DOT also lets most city projects that involve federal aid.

Prequalification of Bidders

To be prequalified to bid, you need to submit a Contractor's Financial-Experience-Equipment Statement at least five days prior to the scheduled letting date. You can get this statement by calling the Office of Contracts at 515-239-1414.

The financial portion of this statement must be audited or reviewed by a certified public accountant if you plan to bid on projects that have a total cost over $100,000. An audited or reviewed statement would allow bidding up to the maximum qualification amount based on a formula. A reviewed statement would limit bidding on individual contracts to $600,000. If you intend to bid on work estimated to cost less than $100,000, you may prepare the statement yourself.

Prequalification is not required on projects that involve furnishing materials, granular surfacing, lighting, buildings, salvage and removal, wells, traffic signals, pavement markings, or mowing. To submit bids on these types of projects, you must be recognized as a contractor engaged in the class of work provided for in the plans and specifications, and you must have sufficient resources to complete the work. Before being given bidding documents, you may be required to furnish evidence of your ability to do the work as specified.

Advertising for Bids

The state uses The Des Moines Register to advertise its letting dates for bids because it has the widest circulation of any newspaper in Iowa.   The official advertising is on the first Monday of each month

A detailed listing of projects to be bid each letting is published in the Weekly Letting Report. This report includes a notice to bidders and itemizes the major quantities of work as they will appear in the proposals. A Request for Documents form is also included for ordering plans, estimating proposals or bidding proposals. The Weekly Letting Report can be ordered by obtaining a subscription form from the Office of Contracts, telephone 515-239-1414 or from the DOT Office Supplies, telephone 515-239-1324.

The Code of Iowa allows governmental agencies to provide sales tax exemptions on building materials.  The notice to bidders also notes contractors do not have to pay sales tax on contracts bid through the Iowa DOT Office of Contracts.

Letting Documents

Letting documents for the regular monthly lettings are available beginning the third Tuesday of the month prior to the letting.

The following letting documents can be ordered from the Office of Contracts by telephone, facsimile (FAX 515-239-1325), by mail using the request form in the Weekly Letting Report or ordered over the Internet at Bid Express

1. Plans

Most projects have detailed drawings of the work to be performed.

2. Cross-Sections

Large grading projects normally have cross-sections which can be ordered to supplement the project plan.

3. Estimating Proposal

The estimating proposal lists the contract period and schedule of prices. The supplemental specifications and special provisions which apply to the project(s) will be attached to the estimating proposal. The estimating proposal will also note if pre-determined wages and/or DBE goals apply to the contract.

4. Bidding Proposal

The bidding proposal form is needed to submit a bid as a prime contractor. To obtain bidding proposals, submit the request along with a signed Work Under Contract form which lists all incomplete work under contract, both inside and outside of Iowa.

When the Contracts Office receives your request, Contracts staff will analyze your bidding capacity. This is done by subtracting your incomplete contracts from your maximum qualification limit. That will give your bidding capacity for the upcoming letting. Your qualification limit can voluntarily be lowered prior to a letting.

You may join with another contractor to request to bid a project as a joint venture. Each of the contractors must be pre-qualified with the Iowa DOT. Your joint venture’s bidding capacity will be the sum of each contractors’ maximum qualification minus the sum of each contractors’ incomplete contracts.

In a joint venture, a letter should be sent to the Office of Contracts requesting the joint venture and designating one contractor as the lead contractor. All contract documents will be sent to the lead contractor. For joint ventures, both contractors must sign the bidding proposal and bid bond.

When a request for bidding proposals is honored, the Office of Contracts gives the prospective bidder the green bidding document. The name and identification number of the bidder are placed on the bidding proposal by the Office of Contracts. Electronic preparation of the bid proposal is allowed, but must be done with the electronic bid system (Expedite) software furnished by the Office of Contracts. You should contact the Office of Contracts for more information about this software.

To be valid for bidding, the Proposal Schedule of Prices form included with the Estimating Proposal or a computer generated Expedite Schedule of Prices must be included with the Bidding Document.

Contractors may also be approved to submit bids electronically over the Internet. Bids for contracts over $600,000 must be submitted either with a diskette or over the Internet.

Other Construction Documents

Contractors planning on bidding or quoting projects may also need the following construction documents:

1. Standard Specifications Book

The 2001 Standard Specifications for Highway and Bridge Construction is available from the DOT Office Supplies, telephone 515-239-1324, or by obtaining a subscription order form from the Office of Contracts, telephone 515-239-1414.

Division 11 of these specifications describes the letting process and contractor’s responsibilities.

2. Standard Road Plans

The Standard Road Plans manual contains the standard drawings that are not reproduced in the plan. The standards that are designated on the plan are used for the contract. This book can be ordered by obtaining a subscription form from the Office of Contracts, telephone 515-239-1414 or from the DOT Office Supplies, telephone 515-239-1324.

3. Materials Instructional Memorandums

The Materials Office Instructional Memorandums (IMs) contain specific information about the procedures concerning the acceptance of materials. The Materials IMs can be ordered with a subscription form that is available from the Office of Contracts, telephone 515-239-1414 or from the DOT Office Supplies, telephone 515-239-1324.

Addenda

Between the time of advertisement and the letting date, it is sometimes necessary to issue an addendum to correct or modify the contract documents. Addenda are faxed to contractors holding bidding proposals (verification of receipt is required).

An E-mail distribution is available for contractors and suppliers to receive all addenda.

Proposal Guarantees

You must submit a proposal guarantee with each bid. This is discussed in Article 1102.12 of the Standard Specifications Book. The amount of the guarantee is shown on the bidding proposal. A proposal guarantee can be submitted in the form of a certified check, credit union certified share draft, cashier's check, bank draft on a solvent bank or credit union, money order, or a contractor’s bid bond on a form provided by the Iowa DOT. The Iowa DOT contractor’s bid bond form is available from the Office of Contracts.

You must submit a proposal guaranty in the amount listed on the proposal form. The proposal guarantees are returned by mail to all but the low bidder, and in some instances the second low bidder, after the awarding of the contract has been approved. The remaining proposal guarantees are returned when the signed contract is returned.

Contractors may submit an annual bid bond which would cover any bids submitted during the life of their financial statement. A copy of the annual bid bond is in the Contractor’s Financial-Experience-Equipment Statement.

Publishing of Potential Bidders

Under the Iowa DOT's present policy, the list of contractors holding bidding documents is public starting 2 weeks prior to the letting. However, a written list will not be mailed or faxed. The information is available by telephoning the Office of Contracts and on the Internet (www.bidx.com). If you, as a contractor, wish to remain anonymous prior to letting, you must make this request when you order bidding documents.

Bid Openings

Bids are received and time stamped until the bidding deadline listed on the proposal the day of the letting at the Iowa DOT Office of Contracts.

After opening, all bids are reviewed for accuracy prior to being read. If the bid is incomplete or irregular, the bid is not read and the reason that it is not read is given at the letting. This is followed up by a letter to the contractor explaining why the bid was not read. To help prevent you from submitting an incomplete bid, the bid envelope has a checklist to remind you to do such things as sign the proposal, enclose the proposal guarantee, bid all items, etc.

Award of Contracts

The Iowa DOT policy is to award to the lowest responsible bidder within 30 days of the letting or reject all bids on the project.

Contracts for state projects are normally sent to the contractor within one week of the letting.

Contracts for city and county projects are sent to the local jurisdiction for their decision to award.

A performance bond is required as specified in Article 1103.05 of the Standard Specifications. The bond is to be at least 100 percent of the contract sum. The bond is held to cover all work included in the contract, whether performed by the prime or a subcontractor.

A current certificate of insurance must be on file with the Office of Finance, Iowa DOT, before any contract can be awarded.

Bid Tabulations

The tabulation of bids is printed after each letting. Bid tabulations for all projects or for certain categories of work can be ordered. The subscription form is available from the Office of Contracts or from Iowa DOT Office Supplies.

Subcontracting

If you, as a prime contractor, wish to sublet any items in the contract, you must make the request on form 830231-- Subcontract Request and Approval. All subcontracts are subject to the approval of the Contracting Authority before they are recognized as being valid. Subcontract Request and Approval forms are submitted with the signed contract to the Contracting Authority.

The total amount to be subcontracted may not exceed 50 percent of the contract amount unless a different percentage is designated on the proposal (Article 1108.01 of the Standard Specifications Book).

Contract Administration

After a contract is signed, any questions concerning contract administration should be directed to the assigned project engineer.

Summary of Awarded Contract Prices (English or Metric)

The Summary of Awarded Contract Prices is printed each January. This book lists the high bid, low bid, average bid, and total quantity awarded for each bid item for the previous calendar year. The book can be obtained from the Iowa DOT Office Supplies, telephone (515) 239-1324.

EEO/AA Policy Requirements

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) requirements to not discriminate, and Affirmative Action (AA) requirements to take affirmative action to assure equal opportunity shall apply to all contractors (prime contractors and subcontractors) that have been awarded a contract or subcontract that equals or exceeds $10,000.

Each contractor shall have an EEO/AA policy approved by the Office of Contracts prior to be awarded a contract. This EEO/AA policy shall be reviewed by the company and resubmitted each year.

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This page maintained by Scott Hanson 515-239-1414 Office of Contracts.

Last updated: October 13, 2008